Leading Chinese B-School Establishes Campus in Europe
As Chinese executives turn their eyes to the global stage and understanding the Chinese economy becomes increasingly vital for the rest of the world, Asia’s top-ranked business school China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) recently announced it has deepened its presence in Europe.
Global since inception as a joint China-EU project, this is another initiative being driven from CEIBS’ European side, and it has secured the Lorange Institute of Business Zurich‘s (LIBZ) as an operating base and global center for China-EU studies in Europe.
“An increasing number of our alumni are doing business globally, so we have to better serve this group,” explains CEIBS European President Professor Pedro Nueno. “At the same time, the Chinese economy is growing larger and more complex and its impact on the rest of the world is undeniable; so it’s time to better summarize and develop business theories and models, based on Chinese practices, and convey those messages worldwide.”
In the initial stages, the Lorange Institute of Business Zurich will retain its name, CEIBS Vice President and Dean Professor Ding Yuan will serve as Chairman, CEIBS Associate Dean Katherine Xin will be in charge of academics and teaching, while LIBZ’s current Chairman Peter Lorange will remain as Honorary President and the business school’s operations will be maintained and headed by its CEO & President Philipp Boksberger.
“This move will further enhance our concept of the ‘business school of the future’ by strengthening the international network of faculty members and business competences with an added focus on key future markets,” says Lorange.
Students and alumni from CEIBS’ wide range of programs will be hosted by the LIBZ while on study tours to Europe. The Institute will also be a source of training for employees of CEIBS alumni companies and/or business units in Europe, as well as European companies doing business in China.
“We have been very successful at bringing knowledge to China, educating and developing competent managers for multinationals, SOEs and private companies. You could say we provided a ‘set menu’,” says Yuan. “Now it will be more ‘a la carte’.”
“Our students and alumni are looking to us to provide them with the business management training they need to face the new challenges of the Chinese economy.”
CEIBS has campuses in China’s economic and political capitals – Shanghai and Beijing – as well as operations in Shenzhen to the south of China and Accra in Ghana. Among the school’s more than 17,000 alumni around the globe, the majority are in leadership positions. As the needs of its students and alumni have changed over the years, CEIBS has adapted to better fulfill its goal of educating responsible business leaders.
“CEIBS students can learn from European cases and experts on innovation and family business. At the same time, European students can get first-hand knowledge on cases and teaching from China while still in Europe,” Yuan says.
“We need to educate business executives – both Chinese and those from other countries – on how to navigate China’s increasingly complex market, and we do all this within a global context. This is now CEIBS 2.0, and it’s quite different from our 1.0 version of 20 years ago.”
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